Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: birthday (05/23/05)
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TITLE: W-A-T-E-R | Previous Challenge Entry
By Theresa Veach
05/27/05 -
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The day began just like any other. I had no idea that it was going to be my birthday. I had no idea that my life was about to change forever.
I had just made a new friend and we would dive into the seas of religious debate and talk about God every chance we could get. She was a Christian (I didn’t hold that against her too much) and I believed that all religious roads lead to the same God. Even though I had been baptized as a Christian as a child, I really didn’t belong to any particular religion. I believed in a “force” that directed my life and helped me to make wise decisions. I had searched for a True and Living God and had practiced most of the major world religions for almost forty years, but nothing had changed my life for the better like following the force within me.
Although we both seemed to enjoy our talks about God, most of the time I couldn’t believe how naïve and intolerant her Christian views were, and I am sure she was equally exasperated with how blind, deaf and mute I was regarding her Jesus.
I had my force. Why did I need to practice an empty religion?
Still, we continued to splash around in the turbulent seas of religious debate, both of us dogpaddling trying to keep our heads above water. I think we were waiting to see which one of us would give up and sink to the bottom of the sea first. We each wanted to win the dogpaddling contest and to prove the other one wrong, especially when it came to Jesus. One morning she even had the audacity to ask:
“What is keeping you from becoming a Christian?”
I could hardly keep my jaw from dropping to the floor. It was as if she had just asked me, “What is keeping you from becoming an alien?” Out of respect for our friendship, I paused and thought about her question. Actually, it was a good question and it deserved a clear and honest answer.
“To me becoming a Christian would mean that I must believe that Jesus is the only way to God. What about all the other religions? How can they be wrong? In fact, I don’t believe in any one particular religion. It is a force that has changed my life. My force is transforming me and bringing me closer to God than any religion ever could.”
I thought I had answered her question quite well. Didn’t I see her sink and go underwater just a bit? Was she going down? Had I finally been able to win this battle over Jesus and Christianity once and for all? No, her head was still completely above water. In fact, what happened next hit me from out of the blue. I mean I never saw it coming, not in a million years. Calmly, she took my hand and drew me gently into the water:
“You wouldn’t have your precious force if it weren’t for Jesus.”
It was as if she had spelled out W-A-T-E-R while simultaneously pouring living water over me. Like the day Helen Keller first learned of the glories of life going on all around her, an entirely new world had suddenly opened up before me. I could see, hear and understand things I had never dreamed possible. Like a flash out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jesus at His ascension giving me His Holy Spirit---giving me my force! Hallelujah! Jesus is not a religion; He is the giver of my very life force and thus the only way to the one True and Living God.
I felt myself going down into the water, being fully immersed and not minding it one single bit. This was one battle I was overjoyed to lose. For in truth, I had won. We had both won. As I came up from the water and into the glories of my new life, I could hear the trumpets sounding and the angels singing. A child has come home today.
A Christian has been born today.
While I had been underwater, I had noticed something about my friend. She hadn’t been dogpaddling after all. She was never going to sink to the bottom of the sea no matter what anyone said against her Jesus—our Jesus.
She had been standing firmly on The Rock the entire time.
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